Endowed Scholarship Honors Bill Cook

For almost 40 years, the name of Professor Bill Cook has been associated with excellent theater at Baylor. A longtime professor and former chair of the department, Cook has helped foster the program's national reputation.
In his honor, the theater department is establishing the Bill G. Cook Endowed Scholarship. "We thought it would be a great way to help his legacy to live on in the theater and keep his name alive long after he's gone," says Dr. Stan Denman, chair of the department.
Theater majors who exhibit leadership qualities and maintain a solid grade point average can be nominated to receive the monetary award, which will be announced at the annual spring theater banquet. The department hopes to name the first recipient this year.
Primary donations to the endowed scholarship fund have been generated by Margaret Brown and Beth Bayfield, members of the Waco Cotton Palace Pageant board of directors. Since 1971, when the pageant was reintroduced, Cook has directed the elaborate event, which celebrates the period of time in the late 19th century when Waco was the world's leading producer of cotton.
A plaque bearing Cook's likeness was hung in the Bill Daniel Student Center last April to commemorate the inception of the scholarship.
Cook holds a master of fine arts degree from the University of Texas-Austin and has studied at the University of Denver, the University of Birmingham, Stratford-on-Avon and Harvard University. He continues to teach Theater Appreciation and a few other classes open to all majors.